Centralight

Sports • cmuchippewas.com As Title IX turns 40, CMU athletes reflect on its impact BY TERRI FINCH HAMILTON Terri Phillion Dulude calls the language of Title IX "37 words that changed everything for women." She should know. When Dulude tore up the CMU volleyball court 30 years ago, she and her teammates were on the forefront of the landmark legislation that called for equality for boys and girls, men and women, in all areas of education – including sports. It meant Dulude got a full- ride athletic scholarship to CMU – the first one given to a female athlete in the state. It meant that millions of young women would get the same opportunities as men to discover how sports could make them strong, confident and equipped to face the future. This year marks the 40th anniversary of the legislation. The CMU Board of Trustees currently is in discussions to continue its compliance by adding two additional female sports programs in the future. "Title IX was huge and significant," says Dulude, now 51 and a second grade teacher in Midland. She was inducted into CMU's Hall of Fame in 2001. Now her daughter, Lindsey, a CMU senior, is on the team. Lindsey Dulude always has known an even playing field, thanks to Title IX. "I never felt I had fewer opportunities than the boys," she says. "I never knew anything different." But it was different. Trailblazers and their daughters. Front row: Lindsey Dulude, her mother, Terri Phillion Dulude and Marcy Weston. Back row: Denise Breslin Gotham and her daughter Danielle Gotham. Women who played sports in the 1970s have memories that baffle today's young athletes. When Denise Breslin Gotham played volleyball at Wayne State University in 1979, she wore a uniform her coach bought at K-Mart, with iron- on numbers added later. When she transferred to CMU two years later, she and her teammates eyed the men's 22 22 centralight fall '11 fall '12 winter '12 sports programs, noting all they had, and were thrilled as they began to catch up. Today, when Gotham comes back to Central to watch her daughter, Danielle, play on the volleyball team, she marvels. "I'm always saying, 'Look what they have now,'" Gotham says. "The uniforms, the equipment, the big video screens. They have weight lifting equipment. They have enough nets." She laughs. "We've come a long way, baby." What Title IX achieved for women Title IX was enacted as an educational law, but athletics is a crucial part of the educational mission, says Gina Mazzolini, assistant director at the Michigan High School Athletic Association. "Title IX gave the same level of funding to women's sports as men's sports," Mazzolini says. "I don't know that high schools and colleges would have done that on their own. There are still some schools that don't do it, and it's a federal law." In 1971, 294,015 females participated in high school sports. In 2011, that number skyrocketed to 3.1 million young women on the track, courts and in the swimming pool. And when women started getting full-ride athletic scholarships, "you saw women going to college who might not have gone otherwise," says Mazzolini. Marcy Weston remembers offering Terri Phillion Dulude that first full-ride scholarship. Now executive associate director of athletics, Weston then was the volleyball coach. "We were kind of ahead of the curve at Central," Weston says. "No other schools in Michigan were offering that kind of money to women yet. I remember thinking, 'Wow – we are really making a statement.'" As more young women started participating in athletics, sports forever changed them. "Sports had a huge impact on me," Dulude says. "Camaraderie. Leadership. Confidence. Travel experience. Social experiences." Adds Gotham: "Title IX has allowed girls to be aggressive, get sweaty, have strong bodies, go after their goals, and still be feminine, beautiful, and respected by males and females of all ages." Weston says so much has changed since Title IX began. "But we still have ground to cover," she says. "I hear people say, 'We don't need Title IX anymore because everything is fine.' "We do need Title IX," Weston says firmly. "I don't think you can sit back. If we didn't have Title IX, we could see some erosion. It took a long time to get where we are. We need to let the Lindseys and the Danielles know it wasn't always like this." •

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